Snow White In The Woods

In between running green woodworking courses here in the Woodland Workshop, we've held various events and also used it for some TV work and photo shoots. 

Our friends at Hiho Silver have just finished compiling their Autumn 'catapaper' (a cross between a catalogue and a newspaper, with photos taken in the woods.  The sight of Snow White and her dwarves, as well as Prince Charming and the rest of the cast, is one that shall stay with me for some time. I think it is obvious from the pictures that everyone had a good time, myself included ...

 

You can view the Catapaper here and the Hiho Silver web site here - both well worth a look as their silverware is something special.

The spirit of the true bodger

If you've kept up to date with our latest newsletter you'll probably have noticed the fantastic detailed drawings for a shaving horse that Martin Nicholson has shared with us.  I think it's really gratifying when someone who's been on a course is then inspired to take it further when they get home and, personally, I'm very impressed by the drawings. I'm also absolutely delighted that Martin himself has pretty well ignored them!

To explain, Martin's been helping to run a Scout camp in the New Forest, and during that he built a shaving horse on the first day entirely from materials scavenged from the site's wood pile. He used hot nails to make holes and came up with an alternative hinge design using some cord he found in the hedge.  If that's not the spirit of the true bodger then I don't know what is!  Wonderful stuff.

More Chair Making Successes

Last week saw the second full 'Make A Chair From A Tree' five-day course and I think I can say for sure that a great time was had by all.  And, in contrast to the last time we ran this one, we finished all 10 of the chairs just a couple of hours after 5.00 on Friday, a big improvement!  It was all quite (nicely) emotional at the end, with some justifiably proud guests.

Of the 10 guests we had six campers who had to endure some pretty torrential rain storms but in the true spirit of camping they still managed to enjoy themselves (with most of them ending up in the tipi for shelter I think). It must be said the Woodland Workshop's hot shower was put through its paces after the storms subsided.

I must say spending a week making a chair from a tree seems to be a particularly wonderful way to spend time ...  and if it appeals then don't forget the new course dates we've added for this year - there are still some places.